They work tirelessly all day under the harsh rays of a blazing sun, the stench of death and destruction around them. They are a team of Jewish heroes who are working around the clock with one mission: the recovery of human bodies.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

(JTA) Norwegian rapper not charged with hate speech
A Norwegian rapper who cursed Jews while performing at an event in Oslo promoting multiculturalism will not be charged with hate speech, because his words may have been criticism of Israel, prosecutors said.

Did Israeli soldiers violate international law by deliberately targeting unarmed children, journalists, health workers, and people with disabilities during the past year of violence along the Israel-Gaza border?

(JTA) After the New England Patriots beat the favoured Kansas City Chiefs to reach their third straight Super Bowl – their amazing ninth in less than 20 years – CBS sports analyst Boomer Esiason made an intriguing statement, namely that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

We are winging our way towards Human Rights Day (21 March), the first public holiday of the year, which coincides with Purim. I can’t help but wonder about our concept of human rights and what it means, not least of all, to our government.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in parliament last week that South Africa intended to downgrade its diplomatic presence in Israel. The foreign affairs bureaucracy was working “feverishly” on the matter. “The decision to downgrade the embassy in Israel is informed precisely by the violation of the rights of Palestinians and we are therefore putting pressure on Israel. But at the same time, we are saying we are willing to play a role and ensure there is peace,” said Ramaphosa.

Undeterred, and in spite of the hate-filled disparagement that spewed forth when Shashi Naidoo uttered positive comments about Israel and Jews last year, Haafizah Bhamjee penned a reasoned and sensible article on Israel and the Palestinians in the SA Jewish Report of 22 February.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

One of the questions that haunts the story of Purim and moves silently through the lines of the Megillah is clear and chillingly simple: How could Jews have chosen to remain in Persian Shushan? It was so clearly an environment in which anti-Semitism was so prevalent that a genocide could be planned and almost implemented without comment by broader society.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

The Jewish Report Editorial

What does being at ground zero mean for us?

Why is it that we so often don’t see the full reality of the situation we are living in until it is reflected through someone else’s eyes?

by
PETA KROST MAUNDER | Nov 29, 2018

This week, I am in Israel for the international Jewish Media Summit, and it has been an eye-opener on many levels, not least of all for how our community’s situation is viewed by Jewish people elsewhere.

During the conference, I met media folk from all over the world, including the Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Russia, Italy, Hong Kong, Spain, England, and the United States. I met people from countries I had no idea had Jewish communities, but they mostly knew about us.

They were aware that we had a very close-knit and Zionist community. Many were aware that we were mostly orthodox, although our orthodoxy was more open-minded than most. In other words, our secular Jewish community was also orthodox, which for some was quite strange.

Many told me how concerning it was that we were at “ground zero” of the BDS problem, and that South Africa was leading the anti-Israel campaign.

I would have been far more astonished by this repeated claim – and would have wondered who was putting out this misinformation – if I hadn’t been faced with this very issue a few weeks earlier.

Let me backtrack to the initial scenario.

I heard about the formation of an organisation in Israel called the South African Israel Policy Forum that consisted mostly of South African olim and one or two political experts sympathetic to our community.

I was intrigued, and so approached one of the experts, Dan Diker, Project Director of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs Program to Counter BDS and Political Warfare, to write an opinion piece about it. I wanted him to explain why this group felt there was a need for such an organisation, and what it planned to do.

They agreed. The piece spoke of how the South African ruling party was “BDS-captured”, and that “BDS SA, and ANC offices have today transformed South Africa into the world’s leader of boycott warfare against Israel”.

I went back to Diker, and suggested that this was a tad exaggerated, and things weren’t so bad. Surely, I said, there are places that are far more anti-Israel.

I went on to say that as South Africans, we are sensitive to those who have emigrated and enjoy lambasting what they have left behind. We are aware of the Shabbos table South Africa-bashing that takes place in some countries by some ex-South Africans.

I thought I could almost hear Diker sighing in disbelief as he retorted, “Your answer reveals why the article and forum are important. South Africa is BDS ground zero. The worst country for BDS in the world. Israel apartheid is South African branding, and it is the heart and soul of the international BDS movement.”

It made me sit up, listen, and start asking questions. Turns out he was not wrong, unfortunately!

Now, being in Israel, with all these people reiterating what he was saying, made me realise just how easy it is to be in the thick of things and not see the bigger picture.

On the other hand, I met media folk from France and other countries where traditional anti-Semitism is rife. They cannot walk the streets of Paris wearing kippot or a magen david without being under threat. Their lives as Jews are being made intolerable. To my mind, they have real problems.

However, I find it hard to compare our situation to theirs.

Just this weekend, we had President Cyril Ramaphosa address the SA Jewish Board of Deputies conference. He spoke about his admiration for us as a community. There is nothing in what he or any member of government said that would have a negative impact on our lives as Jews.

He mentioned the resolution taken in December to downgrade the embassy, and how we were upset about it, saying that the government was intent on being involved in garnering peace talks with Israel.

It sounds fantastic, and I believe that is what he wants to do. However, there are so many ANC members and BDS-supporting ministers who are way too anti-Israel to be involved in orchestrating peace in the Middle East.

It brings me back to the question whether being critical of Israel is anti-Semitic? It isn’t. Israelis criticise their government and various aspects of the country all the time – as do so many Jewish people around the world. They are not anti-Semites.

However, there is a clear distinction. BDS supporters see Israel as all bad, the oppressor, and don’t believe it has a right to defend and protect its people. They are anti-Semites. What exactly is Israel supposed to do if not defend itself and protect its people? Should it sit back and let its enemies – people who want to drive Israel into the sea – destroy the country?

There are a great number of such people in South Africa, and they stand strongly behind BDS. There are indeed many such people in the top echelons of government.

It is clearly problematic as it alienates South Africa from Israel, and puts South African Jews in a very precarious situation. Hence, Lindiwe Sisulu, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, calling on South African Jews to condemn Israel’s actions a while back.

No other country outside of the Arab world has a governing party that so clearly supports BDS. The ANC has welcomed Hamas leaders to its conferences, and apparently doesn’t believe Israel should use force to protect its people.

And so, those journalists at the conference looked sympathetically at me as if we had much to be concerned about.

I am still not convinced the situation is as bad as that. Perhaps I know more than they do, or perhaps I am an ostrich with my head in the sand.

I trust Ramaphosa, and do believe he will do his best to do the right thing. Will he triumph? I can’t say.

Does being at BDS ground zero mean we are in trouble? Just how will this play out for us? I cannot say.

It is clearly murky ground that hasn’t been traversed before. We live in a country where our right to be Jewish in all its glory is sacrosanct, and in that we are safe. We go forward step by step because this is our country.